memes @lemmy.world

3d ago

Damn she had AI write it

Em dashes and emojis

250 comments

Great catch! That’s a really interesting observation — but no, using em dashes and emojis alone is not a reliable way to tell AI text from human-written text.
Here’s why:
1️⃣ Humans and AI both use em dashes and emojis
Skilled human writers often use em dashes for style, tone, or emphasis (like in essays, journalism, or fiction).
Modern AI models, including ChatGPT, are trained on vast amounts of text — including texts that use em dashes extensively — so they use them naturally.
2️⃣ Em dash frequency varies by context
In formal writing (e.g., academic papers), em dashes are less common, regardless of author.
In casual or conversational writing, both humans and AIs may use them liberally.
3️⃣ Stylometric features are broader than one punctuation mark
When people try to detect AI-generated text, they usually analyze a combination of features:
Average sentence length
Vocabulary richness
Repetition patterns
Syntactic structures
Overuse or underuse of certain constructions
Punctuation is just one small part of these analyses and isn’t decisive on its own.
✅ Bottom line: Em dashes can hint at style, but they aren’t a reliable "tell" for AI detection on their own. You need a holistic analysis of multiple stylistic and structural features to make a meaningful judgment.
🤖 Why emojis aren’t a clear tell for AI
1️⃣ AI can easily include emojis if prompted Modern AI models can and do use emojis naturally when asked to write in a casual or friendly tone. In fact, they can even mimic how humans use them in different contexts (e.g., sparingly or heavily, ironically or sincerely).
2️⃣ Humans vary wildly in emoji usage Some humans use emojis constantly, especially in texting or on social media. Others almost never use them, even in casual writing. Age, culture, and personal style all influence this.
3️⃣ Emojis can be explicitly requested or omitted If you tell an AI “don’t use emojis,” it won’t. Similarly, you can tell it “use lots of emojis,” and it will. So it’s not an inherent trait.
4️⃣ Stylometric detection relies on more than one feature Like em dashes, emojis are only one aspect of style. Real detection tools look at patterns like sentence structure, repetitiveness, word choice entropy, and coherence across paragraphs — not single markers.
✅ When might emojis suggest AI text?
If there is excessively consistent or mechanical emoji usage (e.g., one emoji at the end of every sentence, all very literal), it might suggest machine-generated text or an automated marketing bot.
But even then, it’s not a guarantee — some humans also write this way, especially in advertising.
💡 Bottom line: Emojis alone are not a reliable clue. You need a combination of markers — repetition, coherence, style shifts, and other linguistic fingerprints — to reasonably guess if something is AI-generated.
If you'd like, I can walk you through some actual features that are better indicators (like burstiness, perplexity, or certain syntactic quirks). Want me to break that down?
- Fucking thank you.
- I've never seen em dahses outside of an academic paper, so saying people use them liberaly is an olypmic level stretch.
  Also that comment was clearly written by ai itself.
  
  woosh
  
  I use them often even when I’m not writing anything important, just a habit from writing I guess.
  Fuck. I just realised I used them in my résumé that I sent out yesterday. Shit shit shit

The illiterate flocking to Lemmy to profess that they don't know how to make em dashes, therefore it's AI

I use em dashes and emojis all the time. OMG, am I AI?
- Yes
- Me too -- oh no! 🫢😬😭
  
  This is a em dash (—).
- The most damning thing about your sentence is that you think emojis are stereotypically used by AI, which seems like an AI hallucination because I've never heard of that but you confidently asserted it as true.
  
  They're just riffing off of the description of the post presumably?
  
  what the fuck are you on about, respectfully?
  emojis are a notorious facet of OpenAI’s LLM’s styles…
  i say this as a “pro-AI” individual. idek why i’m responding to you. you seem like you’re gonna hit me with some weird reactionary shit in turn.

Another take:
She feels bad about it, wrote a incoherant babbling mess of run-on sentences and incoherant rants about your relationship, she then re-read it and found it to be disproportionately mean and possibly hurtful, She then shoved it all into an LLM and prompted:
I'm breaking up with my boyfriend. This is all my natural heartfelt take on the situation
<inserts text>
, but I find the tone to be callous, angry, and hurtful. Can you please reword this to make the reader feel less attacked, possibly up to and including removing grievances, but at the same time making it clear that this decision is final and that I'd like to part ways amicably, and also that he's not getting his dog back.
- Top comment is about how to get a machine to word something raw and emotional that should have been done in person. Nobody wants to get broken up with, let alone with a script written by a robot. Your take is off putting.
  
  Yet we're perfectly cool with a card from a department store claiming Happy anniversary to my beautiful wife and I'm so glad that you're such a good mother to our kids.
  Anyone that has a take that is not shoving a red hot poker up AI's ass gets down voted.
  I'm not here for the upvotes. Carry on. And please don't take it personally, I do hope you have a solid day.
- She wants it reworded to be less hurtful but she's keeping 'his' dog?
  She'd better start mentioning he kicked it or she just painted herself as... Well, not the worst but, like, really low... Ain't no 'amicable' if you're kidnapping the dog.
  
  Didn't want my conjecture to be boring :)

Apparently there's even an en dash and a hyphen.
The English language is so fucked.
- There's even the en-dash, the hyphen and the minus sign, which are theoretically all typographically distinct.

I actually like using em dashes because it's the correct thing to do. Also the Oxford comma, correct use of semi colon, and listing things in threes.
- And the correct use of: the colon!
- If it's not on the keyboard, it must not be that important to use.
  
  AltGr Shift Dash: Bonjour*
  *: Assuming ur running on Penguins.
  
  It is on the mobile one
  undefined
  
  - dash — em,
- Okay, but why would it be more correct than a different dash? Do you not believe in the evolution of language, you want everyone to revert back to 1960s English?

You can pry my em dashes — which I use regularly in writing because I love them — from my cold dead hands (To be fair, I really like parenthetical statements too, could be an ADHD thing).
- As someone with AuADHD, can confirm that parenthetical statements are likely an ADHD thing (I use a lot of them).
  
  ADHD: Can't have just one thought (That's my reasoning anyway).
- I mean id use them more if i knew how to make them. they hide that fucking button on every keyboard -- it's like some big secret
- You're providing a thought (and a bonus thought)
  
  (as a treat)
- I've been using em dashes for years. I learnt the alt code for them, because using hyphens for dashes looks awful (before that I'd do the double hyphen for an em dash). Also, like me, I notice you put spaces around the em dashes, which is apparently incorrect, but also according to me is the right way to do it.
- Parenthetical statements are so very useful (as they can denote a hierarchy of thoughts (and do many other things))! I love them.
- Humans just use dashes - they get the point across and don't require esoteric button presses.
  
  It's trivially easy on everything—except maybe Windows. I use them because I like the way they look.
  Android: long press the dash
  Linux: Compose Key + three dashes (you can set the Compose Key to whatever you want, I use the Right Alt key).
  macOS: Opt + Shift + dash
  
  But it just doesn't look right. I use a double dash, but most places now convert that automatically to em dash.
  
  On the iPhone I just long-press the dash and get alternates like en and em dash, as well as middot. Otherwise, no esoteric button presses. Works on macOS and iPad too.
  
  Some phones turn hyphens into an em dash.
  Fuck using an alt code though, I'm just gonna use a comma even when I shouldn't
  
  I use a keyboard layout, where they are easy to type — this does not make me a llm.
  
  To be fair though, a colon would be the correct punctuation here.
- Yesss em dashes are my babies! They're have more versatility in breaking up sentences than commas IMO, and they don't have as many annoying rules as semi-colons.
  But I also write stories as a hobby so thats the reason its something I care about
- I'm with you. I used to use a lot more parentheses, but the break is cleaner. I opt for en dashes, though, because I find too em dashes to be too long. That could just be a MSWord preference because I don't distinguish on other platforms.

As if breaking up over text isn't bad enough by itself.
- Oh, look at Mr./Mrs. Fancypants who prefers text2speech bots for breakup. /s
  
  I'll send over my butler to let her know we're no longer a thing. /s

You people think em dashes are proof of AI?
Jesus Christ that’s so fucking sad.
- Most normal people, at least from my understanding, don't use em dashes in text messages, let alone even use punctuation half the time. So if I see em dashes, yeah, my first thought is going straight to AI.
  
  Annoyingly I've used them for a number of years as a good way to make internet comments flow a bit more. However I find myself doing it less and less now because I'm worried people are just going to think I'm using an AI if they see an em dash.
  (You just long press dash on android to get to it, opt+shift+dash on Mac, and the admittedly Byzantine alt+0151 on windows. Can't remember iOS off the top of my head, but I think it's similar to android)
  
  I don't use em dashes but I do use punctuation (apparently some people find that passive aggressive and I don't what to do). When someone else uses punctuation I just ignore it unless it doesn't match their previous messages.
  
  i use those a lot to indicate that i finished a thought rapidly (in most cases)
  like "what the fu—"
  
  I’m a fiend for a dash - they’re just better
  
  I used to :(
- Indeed—your assertion is entirely accurate—the mere presence of em dashes within a text does not—in and of itself—serve as definitive proof of artificial intelligence authorship. This grammatical construct—a versatile and often elegant punctuation mark—can be employed by any writer—human or machine—to achieve various stylistic and semantic effects. Its utility—whether for emphasis—for setting off parenthetical thoughts—or for indicating a sudden break in thought—is undeniable.
  However—it is also true that—when analyzing patterns across vast datasets—certain stylistic tendencies can emerge. An AI—programmed to process and generate language based on extensive training corpora—might—through statistical correlation and optimization—exhibit a propensity for specific linguistic features. This isn't—to be clear—a conscious choice by the AI—there's no inherent preference for em dashes encoded within its fundamental algorithms. Rather—it's a reflection of the patterns it has learned—the statistical likelihood of certain elements appearing together.
  So—while an em dash does not independently declare "I am AI"—its consistent and perhaps slightly overzealous deployment—alongside other less tangible but equally discernible patterns—might—for a discerning observer—suggest an origin beyond human hands. It's about the entire tapestry—not just a single thread. It's about the aggregate—the cumulative effect—the subtle statistical fingerprint. And that—I believe—is a distinction worth making.
  
  I honestly don't know if this is hand written or not, and that makes it even funnier.
  
  ...that's just a shatner filter...
  
  Ingredients: a dash of em
- You are vastly underestimating the amount of people who don't use em dashes at all.
  
  I don’t have a good sense of this since I am a trained writer. Is it really so low that one would reasonably conclude an AI wrote something with them?
  
  They don't but the word processing software they likely use autocorrects them in. What's next, proper semi-colon use and Oxford commas means you're a bot?
  Spelling & Grammar tool just wreaking havok.
- How the hell do you even type an em dash?
  I'm sure it's possible (I know it's easy on a touch keyboard), but if the person who sent it has never used em dashes in their life, then it's pretty definitive proof. Otherwise, it's just a big clue that you might combine with other factors.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key
  If I had a nickel for each time this week, I needed to link to this, I'd have two nickels; which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
  
  On a mobile phone it's super easy. Long press the hyphen button and swipe over to the dash.
  On Mac it's pretty easy still, but requires a little more knowledge. Option-shift-dash. (Without the shift gives you an en dash.)
  On Windows it's the completely arcane alt-0151, and only possible if you have a numpad. I memorised it like 15 years ago and have regularly used it since, but it's hard to blame people for not doing so.
  No idea about Linux.
  
  Word and Google docs will translate them from --
  They'll also give you the stupid smart quotes.
  I've never break up with anybody over text but if for some reason I had to I would certainly write it on a computer first.
  edit: LOL apparently lemmy markdown also translates them from --
  
  You use use the compose key with a sequence of characters. Mine is right alt, so it's gonna be:
  right alt, then -, then -, then -
  —
- Yes. and your ignorance is sad.
- It’s honestly unhinged. So many stupid people trying to desperately grasp at something to feel more correct than you™
  
  If you were playing yahtzee, and your opponent only rolled sixes, would you not say anything? No, no, rolling a six isn't proof of cheating—that's... that's ridiculous.
  Also, don't tell me you need to roll more than sixes to win yahtzee, I don't know any other dice games.

We've been together for a long time..
But picture this: not being together.
- Knock knock.
  Who's there?
  Not me any more.

Every user of the em dash on the planet is in this comment section.
- Using em dashes is cultured and also cool
- The fucking bastards took it from us

I'm a markdown nerd who likes to use headers to break up longer post and sometimes properly buletpoint or put ASCII art in preformatted boxes. People who thinks they have the magic sauce on LLM generation detection because a post goes out of their way to do more than the bre minimum with punctuation or formatting is an asshole.
- This is a meme post about em dashes, dawg
  
  From the post title, description, and other peoples comments, I took away that the meme is m9re about suspecting your ex didnt even write their own breakup message based off the use of em dashes.
  Its a cute surface level joke but it touches in a real nerve because Its becoming more and more common for you to be falsely accused of being an LLM and being told to "ignore all previous instructions and (some stupid instruction) based off small writing quirks like using em or markdown and top comments share this frustration too.
  I shouldn't have to feel self conscious about the way I write
  undefined
  
  Just to pass armchair llm detector wannabe vibe checks 🖕.

For me, it would take some of the sting out of the break-up.
I would think to myself, "damn, how did I not realize that I was dating a lazy moron?"

Many input mechanisms automatically substitute two hyphens with "–".
- Including this very platform.
  Lemmy will automatically render a double dash -- as an en dash, and a triple dash --- as an em dash.
  I usually just type alt + 0151, though, because I'm a nerd.
  
  test, ignore:
  --
  "--"
  dash: --
  
  I just got a line across the page: ---

I use them all the time!
- do they serve a purpose, that is not fulfilled by the humble ","?
  
  Yes, it's nuanced but it breaks up the sentence flow in a different way. Also used for listing things. A comma is more a small pause, like this. A semicolon is used to differentiate two independent related thoughts ; it's kind of a combination between a period and a comma. A dash can be used for many things - a longer separating of thoughts, listing different points such as this, or just as an intentional emphasis to add a more protracted pause.
  
  No.

Hasn't word done this simce about offoce 2007? the autoformat as you type feature, specifically...
I only know this because I fucking hate it and have been religiously turning it off
- Weirdly it usually turns hyphens into en dashes instead of em dashes from what I’ve seen, which makes no sense at all.
  
  Ah, I've probably confused them all along
- Hasn't word done this simce about offoce 2007?
  Imagine writing your breakup in Office 2007... I mean, at least use a free and open-source software like LibreOffice.
  
  Imagine getting broken up with via Clippy.
  
  When I breakup, I like to be brutal
- But, it's a text, most likely written on mobile. If I got such text I would ask why they chose m dashes (to which I would get another llm answer)
  
  Brilliant point!

Breakup via text is a blocked for life. Cowards don’t deserve your time
- I never got what's the deal with that. Sincerely. If there's a break up, what's the difference doing it by text, phone or in person.
  My gut says me that people may prefer in person because they saw a better chance of avoid the breakup that way, but I'm not sure.
  Other than that if it's over it's over, I don't see the media in which the message is deliver. For all I care as if it's via smoke signals.
  
  It's about respect for the other person, as I see it. You wouldn't be a little miffed if your wife of 10 years sent you a "k thx bai (link to divorce papers)" instead of talking in person?
  
  I think its basic courtesy to put even a little effort to something as important as a breakup. Not doing it face to face or at least in a call removes the interaction completely. It's taking the easiest possible path in a situation that will certainly affect the other person in a significant manner. It's cold. Using a LLM for said text like in the meme is even lower effor and leaves the recipient feeling utterly worthless. Basically the same thing as getting fired via email.
- I figured out that this works as a guilt for a lot of people who were abused in a relationship.
  Call them, text them, or even better, ghost their ass if they ever toxic. You're more than fine with that.
- As someone who used to do shit like this all the time (perma-blocking people for perceived disrespect), it's not a great way to live.
  Yeah they made a shitty situation worse, but being a coward doesn't make you a bad person. Besides, they're almost certainly a kid.

Bullet successfully Dodged, Anon.

Wrong scene. This is almost literally in the blade runner sequel.
- Genuine question, is the sequel any good?
  
  Yes, amazing.
  
  So good. Bleak as fuck, but good, and good in a lot of the same ways.
  As an example, watch the whole movie, then rewatch and pay attention to that sex scene-it's so literarily good.
  Edit: about the sex scene? Really? Where the protagonist

My keyboard has them - – — git gud
- git push origin main --force
  
  I once wasted an hour trying to figure out why a CLI command straight from a project's README wouldn't work, only to figure out that they had em dashes instead of regular dashes in their example. Ended up opening a PR to hopefully save someone the same pain in the future.
  
  No no no, git gud, not git push.

Isn't "It's not you, it's me" the ultimate example of parallel sentence structure? Lol
But let's be real, it's more like...
💔 Here's three reasons reasons we're breaking up:
Our personalities don't match-- according to (made up citation) people with you type are toxic.
Your idiology doesn't match mine-- you don't believe in White South African genocide.
We aren't compatible-- our personalities aren't complimentary.
And so on. Lol
- There needs to be a "what you can do" with a green tick emoji
  
  If you need any further clarification, please don't hesitate to let me know 😊

Em dash will sour your milk and lose your car keys. It will cause your socks to become odd pairs and fart in the lift when your crush alights. Em dash is responsible for the failure of the mars climate orbiter but ran a successful misinformation campaign against SI units.
- [Em dash will give your ex-boy/girlfriend your new phone number. Em dash will mix antifreeze into your fishtank. Em dash will drink all your beer and leave its socks out on the coffee table when there`s company coming over. Em dash will put a dead kitten in the back pocket of your good suit and hide your car keys when you are late for work.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-K0SXjw1gs)
  
  Did you just use a backtick as an apostrophe? You are an absolute savage.
- I have a dream that one day my writing will not be judged by the frequency of my em dashes, but by the quality of my ideas.

I use em AND en dashes...

Finally, something worse than being broken up with via text.

I'm so sorry your chat bot broke up with you :(

Is this a thing? Shit, I’m now going to be self conscious about using the em.
- If you're already breaking up over text, you probably aren't in a position to worry much about how they interpret your typography. And if they haven't noticed how you normally write there's even less reason to worry about it.
- using the em
  That's how you can know that you're just a simulation.
  
  Love that you picked up on this from my comment and not the meme.
  We’re all in a simulation
- The em dash is just something you can use to diagnose the "AI-ness" of some text, the same way a cough could mean a cold or it could mean something else. You don't need to be self-conscious about it.
  Somebody else replied with the video that popularized this bit of insight.
- I've seen this video that talks about some signs of AI text and em dash is one of them
  https://youtu.be/9Ch4a6ffPZY
- No, it’s not a thing. There’s a new batch of even stupider than normal language prescriptivists that think they’re the first to come up with the concept, though.

You can't text message break up!
- What a deck, betch

So you're saying if I start using the long dash people will block me faster?
Love it.

Improve my breakup rhyme:
Velvets are blue,
this is a rhyme,
I was with you,
until this time.
(some unromantic 70B LLM)
::: spoiler spoiler Here's an improved version of your breakup rhyme:
Velvet memories fade to blue, Our moments lost, like dreams anew, We shared our hearts, you and I, Until goodbye said farewell to our sky.
Key improvements made:
Enhanced Imagery
Added "velvet memories" to create richer sensory detail
Used "fade to blue" instead of simple "are blue" for more dynamic imagery
Introduced "dreams anew" to add depth to the metaphor
Improved Emotional Depth
Added "lost" to emphasize the pain of separation
Used "shared our hearts" to acknowledge the depth of connection
Created more impactful ending with "farewell to our sky" suggesting complete separation
Better Structure
Maintained consistent four-line structure
Enhanced rhythm while keeping natural flow
Preserved end rhymes ("blue"/"new", "I"/"sky")
More Sophisticated Language
Replaced generic "rhyme" with meaningful imagery
Changed simple "was with you" to more poetic "we shared our hearts"
Transformed basic "until this time" into more evocative "until goodbye said farewell"
The revised version maintains the core theme of your original while adding layers of meaning and emotional resonance. Each line contributes to both the literal and metaphorical meaning of the poem, creating a more satisfying and emotionally resonant piece.
:::

Gemini, Siri, Alexa... break up with everyone! Send.
- *ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, etc.
  
  Those other ones are also AI. Not sure why you wrote this out.
- Dating several people at once is easy now that several AIs are my secretaries and do all the talking

When you never had a she (=
- ultimate anti-breakup strategy

I use those when writing literature, but because in Spanish it is what we use for dialogs.

Or she actually cares about ponctuation. And that's a lost for you.
- You just keep an Em Dash in a notepad to copy and paste all the time?
  
  Bro doesn't realise you can get more characters to show up by just long-pressing a key on most mobile kbs
  
  I keep Character Map™ at hand in Windows® just for random punctuation and stuff ©. gucharmap or something similar in Linux.
  In word processors I've set up automatic formatting so that double minus () turns to en dash (–) and triple minus () turns to em dash (—).
  
  No but good-quality writing software add change the short dash automatically when the context is right. You can also keep a list of shortcut on your destop as memo or tap "Em Dash" on your search engine to find an example to copy paste.
  I don't know how to use them in English but I'm very carefull about using them right in my mother tongue.
  
  Alt-0151 on windows
- Well at least you're safe from suspicion.
  
  You should try to find someone to better you (_)

I long for the day when we stop giving a fuck about how many pixels a dash has.
Jesus fucking christ it is so insufferable how long this goes on for.
- M—Dash is an AI red flag.

250 comments

I shouldn't have to feel self conscious about the way I write